Reports of US sailors in Middle East trying to jump ship spark outcry

Lawmakers in the United States have raised the alarm over reports of dire conditions on an aircraft carrier deployed to the Middle East amid the US-Israel war with Iran, including accounts of sailors trying to jump overboard.The response has included a direct appeal to Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, asking for further information about conditions on board the USS Abraham Lincoln and demanding that a bipartisan congressional delegation be allowed to visit the ship.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3As Strait of Hormuz transit drops, Trump again says US has ‘control’list 2 of 3Iran remains defiant as it vows to fight US until demands metlist 3 of 3Trump remarks on diminishing impact of pro-Israel groups in Congressend of listIn a letter to Hegseth, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal noted that the aircraft carrier, with more than 5,000 US sailors and Marines, has been “continuously at sea for a record length of nearly seven months”. That surpasses any previous deployment of a US aircraft carrier without a port stop.Blumenthal noted that the vessel’s mission was meant to end in May but has been repeatedly extended amid the war on Iran. The conflict remains in a state of gr...